Eight Years For Man Who Stabbed Cousin To Death

A Kildare man who stabbed his cousin to death with a flick knife he had bought him as a present was jailed for eight years yesterday at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court.

27-year-old heroin addict Shane Millea, of Celbridge, Co Kildare, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his cousin, 33-year-old Paul Harris, claiming he had acted in self defence.

The court heard that Millea made a statement to gardai where he admitted stabbing Mr Harris in self-defence after the deceased man attacked him with an axe handle.

Detective Inspector Richard McDonald testified there was no evidence to counteract Millea's version of events as there were no other witnesses.

However, Paul Harris' mother, Rosemary Bond, said outside the court that her family did not accept Millea's version of events and could never forgive him.

Ms Bond called on the Government to address the level of knife crime in the city, urging people to "let go of the knives" as they were "bringing destruction on to the streets of Dublin every single day".

The father of one was sentenced to 10 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney, who suspended the final two on the basis of Millea's plea of guilty and the condition that he "never possesses a knife in perpetuity". He ordered that the sentence date from December 2, 2010.

(H)